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Product Watch

Ameritrade Connects to Institutions; Accounting for Aggregation; New Wealth-Management Platform

Ameritrade Connects to Institutions
Ameritrade Holding Corporation has launched Ameritrade Connection, a new service for independent broker/dealers (IBDs) and registered-investment advisers (RIAs).

The service bundles Ameritrade's low-cost-trading platform, its clearing services and various customizable products to provide a suite of services that will be delivered by its institutional-client division.

"The Ameritrade Connection is focused on the needs facing our institutional partners, RIA and IBD clients, who want to utilize tools and services that attract and better service their individual investors," says Vince Passione, president of the Institutional Client Division.

The advanced-order system allows for block trading, market open and on-close orders, access to intra-day balances, and positions and real-time quotes. It includes online-order-status access to more than 900 no-transaction-fee mutual funds and a range of stock-screening tools.

The service will allow RIAs and IBDs to create, edit and manage multiple accounts and determine which clients get access to specific content and features based on an entitlement system, which allows firms to segment their clients.

As well, RIA and IBD clients will be able to subscribe to enhanced-trading tools, such as StreamMachine for streaming-customizable stock quotes, and Super StreamMachine, which provides tick-by-tick data and Level II quotes. Advanced Analyzer provides more sophisticated stock screening and charting tools.

The system will allow firms to download transactional data into portfolio and record-keeping systems. It also provides access to an online-form library and online-account-opening tools.

www.amtd.com; 800.237.8692

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Accounting for Aggregation
SunGard Online Investment Systems has teamed with account-aggregation provider Yodlee in a co-marketing agreement to promote integrated solutions to wealth-management-service providers.

The firms will work together to market their technology and provide financial institutions with an end-to-end wealth-management platform, which includes Yodlee services incorporated with SunGard's analytics engines (Frontier, Expert and Synapse) and asset-management systems (AddVantage).

That means advisers will be able to use Yodlee to aggregate their clients' accounts in an integrated client portal, through SunGard PowerPortal or its adviser workstation, SunGard PowerStation.

"Yodlee provides a rich set of data that can be leveraged by SunGard's applications," says John Hyde, group chief executive officer of SunGard Online Investment Systems. "With a complete, integrated solution, financial institutions can offer a far greater value from aggregation by feeding aggregated data into asset allocation, financial planning, online advisory, and other services and allowing them to provide a higher level of service to their clients."

www.sungard.com; 610.341.8700

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New Wealth-Management Platform
ASI has launched a modular wealth-management platform designed to help financial institutions and advisers market their products and services across various market segments.

It's a conversion of ASI's desktop platform to the Web world, explains Ravi Misquitta, head of product management at the Lafayette, Calif.-based company, founded by Andrew Rudd, chairman of Barra, Inc.

"It streamlines your investment process and workflow," adds Ashish Arora, senior vice president of product marketing at the firm.

It's a seven-module platform that blends a range of technologies, including Monte Carlo simulations, portfolio modeling and Professional Insights, ASI's proprietary technology that allows advisers to provide personalized answers to frequently asked questions. The system allows advisers to manage their clients and deliver a range of custom products, including IRA rollovers, separate accounts, 529 plans and variable annuities.

The modules include client profiles, risk assessment, asset allocation, portfolio diagnostics, investment selection, financial planing, report generation, portfolio monitoring and rebalancing.

Firms can use the technology to service clients through call centers while advisers can reach into the mass affluent and high-net-worth space and match investors' needs to their goals, Misquitta explains.

The modular approach makes the system very scalable, he says, adding that the modules can be deployed independently of each other.

The workflow system also allows for stronger internal compliance and permits advisers to render consistent advice across their client base.

ASI is targeting a range of firms, from wirehouses to large regional brokers with a focus on the "distribution side of institutions," Arora says.

www.advisorsoftware.com; 925.299.7782

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